There has been a choir of boy Choristers and Vicars Choral at St Paul’s for over nine centuries. The choir was enlarged and reorganized in the late nineteenth century under Sir John Stainer and was one of the first to care properly for its choristers with appropriate housing and education. The present choir consists of around thirty singing boys and twelve Vicars Choral.

In addition to leading the daily round of worship in the cathedral, the Choir takes part in a number of services of national importance held at St Paul’s. In recent years, these have included services to commemorate the end of military operations in Northern Ireland, the end of the Second Iraq War and a tribute to those involved in the Battle of Britain. In 2012 the Choir took part in major services to commemorate the the Diamond Jubilee of HM The Queen and the launch of the 2012 Paralympics. There are regular annual collaborations with orchestras, including Bach’s St John Passion, a series of Masses on Sundays in July, a Requiem on All Souls’ Day and Handel’s Messiah. The Choir has premiered many new works, including most recently music from Sir John Tavener, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, John Rutter, Judith Bingham and Francis Grier.

The Choir has many recordings to its credit including two widely acclaimed series on the Hyperion label: one of English cathedral music and the other of the complete Psalms of David. In 2012 the Choir recorded Mozart’s Missa solemnis, Regina caeli and Vesperae solennes de Dominica.

Over the last decade, the Choir has toured extensively in Europe, Japan, and the Americas. The Choristers in particular are much in demand for performances around the UK, which recently have included the 60th anniversary of Britten’s St Nicolas, and Berlioz’ Te Deum and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 at the Proms. In 2012 they travelled to Dresden to perform a new Requiem by Lera Auerbach with the Dresden Staatskapelle under Vladimir Jurowski.